Birds of tin- 
Jlirhi/>i District. 
203 
siiiiro a certain aiiimmt . On ripjiroaching the lake I was lirst 
struck bj' great patches of white, which soon resolved them- 
si Ives into flocks of wate.rbirds . There were innumerable num- 
bers of White Pelicans with black primaries (I did not 
manage to ascertain the exact sp cies) which formed a wonder- 
ful sight as thc3- soared high into the air in a swirl of 
innumerable circles ; the morning flight (as I tviw it a day 
or two later) was something to remember, as if a tangled skein 
of wool had been thrown across the sky. Flocks of Spoon- 
bills {I'i-(itaha tcHorodia) and AA'hite Storks (Cicoiiio dlbn > 
were also feeding in the Shallows, and the tiemcndous clamour 
that arose when some of the flocks of waterfowl, numbering 
hundreds, took to wiiiij. showed tha* tbej' were Geese (i)rt)b- 
ably all Anscr iiidirKs). These were the birds that caught 
the eye from a distance. Approaching nearer I could see 
black specks covei iiig the surface of the water, as if shaken 
out by a gigantic pepper-pot. These were the Duck, and I 
defy any one to enuiiienite the species, (iladwall, Teal, Pint'iii 
Shovellers, Tufted Duck, and Spotbill (A7ias poccilorhyncha), 
and Ruddy Sheldrake (Casarca riitila I were identified 
but there might have been ever3-thing or anything ; one could 
only just pick out some of the nearer species, on the fringe 
of things. I did not distinguish any Mallard, which prob- 
ably arrive a little lat<;r. Here on the mud at the water's 
edge was a flock of Demoiselle Cranes ( Anihropoidrs virgo), 
and there standing on a patch of the dried mud already 
plough (1 for cultivation were some solemn Black-necked Storki 
{XcnorJiynchus aniaticus), a little further off on the fields 
of young wheat were three Sanis Cranes {Grus (inlti- 
goni). Here and there along the waiter's edge were li.shing 
Coininoii Herons (A idfd ciiii-ren) and nearer the dam than 
most of the other birds. A\"hite Egrets (probablj- Bvrodins 
garz(tta), and Paddy Birds (Ardcoki grayi), stood about 
on the mud. A solitary Plamingo was seen, but too far 
off to allow of the species being identified. Night Heroas 
(Nycticorax griseus) were in the neighbourhood, but did 
not intimate their presence until dusk, which inspired their 
raucous calls as they flew to the feeding grounds . The White 
Ibis (Ibis melanoccyhala) was in small numbers. 
Overhead an occasional Cormorant (Ph'Uacrocorax c(irbo) 
or Darter (Plotus nidanogastrr ) would pass high in the 
air but the Pigmy C.jrmorants {Plytlacrccorax jdvanicxs) 
kept mostly to the weedy ponds near the dam which they 
shared with the Coots (Fulica atra). 
Waders were hard to note amongst the swarms of larger 
birds but I saw a party of Curlew (Nuvienius arquatiis), 
a big flock of Spotted Redshanks (Totanus fuscm), and 
Black-winged Stilts iHiniantopiis Candidas), Greenshank-s 
